Chapter 38: Choosing & Using Resources
What types of resources are allowed, and how
should you use them? ---
Evaluating
Websites Carefully
"Primary"
vs. "Secondary" Sources
"Peer-reviewed" Sources vs.
Wikipedia
Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
Scripture and Famous Quotations
Taking Notes
Searching Documents by Skimming
Conclusion: Why Worry about These Issues?
---
Introduction
Should you know, already, how to research well when
you enter college? Most people don't--not at a college level. Yet
your instructors and professional workplace coordinators expect you to
understand and use good research methods. Here are some basic questions
that this chapter answers:
"Are most websites okay to use in research papers?"
"What are those two things mentioned by some
instructors that they call 'primary' and 'secondary' sources?"
"Are Wikipedia and other online encyclopedias
allowed?"
"Do people need to take notes when researching?
When and why?"
"If you use a book as a resource, do you have to read
the entire book--or pretend that you have?" How about articles and
websites?"
(Note: Much of this material comes
from
www.OnlineGrammar.org and from the chapter called "How to Read Texts"
in this textbook.)
---
Evaluating Websites Carefully
Don't fall for
every .edu, .org, and pretty web interface. Many .edu and .org web sites are
written by individuals with wildly varying viewpoints, not their institutions'
views or research orientation. And some of the handsomest web designs have no
worthwhile content for research purposes. Some questions to answer about a
website are
-
Is it written by a
highly respected source? If you don't know, try making a web search on the
name of the organization or company that authored the site. Also, try a
web search on the title of the website and see if it is quoted or otherwise
mentioned in other reputable websites.
-
Is it sufficiently up
to date? Look for the date at the bottom of the home page (and other
pages). A website with information written in the twentieth century on
Alexander the Great might still be valid for a Humanities course, but a website
with factual information for a science or psychology class usually must be
written within a few years of the present date.
-
Is it complete?
Does the information cover, prove, or support what you actually need, or is the
information not really to the point for your own needs? If the latter is
true, you may need to investigate additional or different sites.
-
Is the information
balanced? If one point of view is argued, are opposite or different points
of view given a fair hearing, as well?
-
Is the site well
written with good spelling, grammar, and general editing? Simple errors in
such mechanical errors often can be one sign of poor thinking or poor
professional qualifications, as well.
-
Is the information
from an expert? If so, is his or her expertise verifiable? And is
the information firsthand (by the expert him or herself), or from someone else
summarizing the expert's findings? (See more about this in
"Primary"
vs. "Secondary" Sources
and in
"Peer-reviewed" Sources vs.
Wikipedia below.)
You can learn
more about the difference between instructor-approved and -disapproved web sites in videos
at
Maryland (audio & text, 5 min.),
Portland (8 min.),
W. Virginia (slides & audio, 4 min.); or in
texts at
Minnesota,
Hacker & Fister, or
UC Berkeley. A good general,
introductory set of written tutorials about web research, along with a slide
show, is at
Purdue.
---
Return to top.
"Primary" vs "Secondary" Sources
Many instructors and professional coordinators consider the difference between
these two absolutely important. You
may need to search for--or perform--both kinds.
A "primary"
source can be yourself or someone else who has "created knowledge" himself or
herself. You are a primary resource if you have completed research that
you have performed yourself, such as a lab experiment, a survey, or a
professional observation and resulting report or article. More commonly
for your research writing, a "primary" source also is one that has, himself or
herself, completed similar research or personally experienced something and is
reporting it. Primary resources include official scientific reports;
research and observation studies in the social sciences and psychology; and
personal observations in all fields if they are made in a thorough, logical, and
balanced manner, such as those in good journalism and news reportage.
A "secondary"
source, on the other hand, is a report of a report. It is written by
someone who is discussing what has happened to someone else. The author
(or speaker) has not, himself or herself, directly experienced what he or she is
reporting. For example, most textbooks, most opinion journalism, and all
summaries of other people's research work are secondary sources.
For more on
primary vs. secondary sources, see online resources at
Toronto (written), or at
California-San Diego or
Hartness (3-5 min. videos).
---
Return to top.
"Peer-reviewed" Sources vs.
Wikipedia
"Peer-reviewed"
sources and Wikipedia represent two opposing poles of what most
instructors want to see in a research paper. Here's an brief explanation
of each.
First, the
great majority of instructors do NOT want you to use Wikipedia as a
resource for your paper. However, it is useful for some purposes. The
most highly desired sources in many fields and for many papers are called
"peer-reviewed" sources. Here's a look at both.
First, Wikipedia is really helpful for checking out definitions and
general ideas as a start. However, you have to treat the ideas from it like you
would as if they were ideas from a wide variety of your own friends and family.
Some of the articles are written by experts. Some are written by people who
know nothing more than nonfactual opinions about a subject. And some people who
consider themselves experts are not at all knowledgeable in many ways. This is
exactly why professors do NOT like Wikipedia. They do not want to see it
in any college research paper, even a rough draft. Instead, they prefer sources
that, unlike Wikipedia, are "peer reviewed.
The
highest level of scholarly articles and books are called "peer-reviewed,"
"refereed," or "juried." This means that a panel of scholars (from two to five
or more, depending on the academic journal) have carefully examined the article
or book and have determined that it is of high enough quality to publish.
Wikipedia lets anyone upload a new article or change in it, and if others do
check it and change it, there is no note about their level of scholarly
excellence.
In many fields, specifically proven facts also are considered of highest value.
But even "facts" have to be proven, first. If you can find a "fact" in at least
three highly respected sources without the sources mentioning where the facts
came from (or mentioning the same place), then likely what you have found is
fact. Wikipedia does not always do this, either, because it lets anyone
state "facts."
So, Wikipedia might be a good place to start a search for information,
but you can never trust the source of the information. And neither can your
professors. So, use it if you want, but check out the info elsewhere--and use
sources that professors consider more accurate.
---
Return to top.
Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
Does the teacher need a definition of something? It's highly unlikely in
undergraduate and even most graduate papers. If he/she doesn't, then don't
provide it. The tone and style you are supposed to adopt in college is that of
an expert writing for other experts in the same field of study. If those
experts (and your teacher) don't need a definition, then don't have it. The
same goes for most general encyclopedia articles, as well--they are too general
and obvious to teachers and similar scholars. Exceptions, though, are what are
called "subject encyclopedias/dictionaries." For example, The Encyclopedia of
Behavioral Psychology or The Oxford Shakespeare Dictionary may sometimes be
quoted or paraphrased. Ask your teacher! They are sources that may hold
descriptions unknown to or debated by experts in the same or related fields.
---
Return to top.
Scripture and Famous Quotations
Scripture and famous
quotations, like Wikipedia and dictionaries, also are not considered good
source materials. Here's why.
First, scripture
seems to many people like a great source. No matter what religion you
practice or know, scripture has
lots of great lessons, stories, and advice. However, scripture can be used to
prove almost anything. It is, therefore, not useful in scholarly papers for
proving a point--someone else can just quote some other part of some other
scripture to prove the opposite. In fact, scripture in most papers is like
using famous quotations: college instructors don't really want a bunch of famous
quotatons because they don't really prove anything: someone can prove the
opposite--or several differing points of view--by quoting some different famous
quotes.
The exception for scripture is when you are actually researching the scripture
itself. For example, perhaps you are taking a religion, humanities, or history
course and are trying to explain several potentially opposing points of view
that, for example, Moses, Mohammed, or Buddha might have expressed about a
specific subject such as, perhaps, "a man's duty to woman." Then you might
offer several different passages from different parts of scripture to illustrate
several possible interpretations.
Likewise, famous quotations sometimes are acceptable to some teachers as an
interesting way to start or end a paper--an introduction or conclusion. But
they better really nail your subject or your conclusion. Likewise, if you are
in a highly religious school, some of your instructors might appreciate an
interesting scriptural quotation in your introduction or conclusion--again,
though, only if they are highly applicable. Ask the teacher before trying it!
But whether you use famous quotations or scripture, never let them replace
scholarly or factual quotations and paraphrases. What scholars and researchers
have said--not famous quotations or famous scripture--that will prove your
points in a scholarly, collegiate way.
If in doubt, you
should follow one of two solutions. Either don't use scripture or famous
quotations, or ask your instructor first.
---
Return to top.
Taking
Notes
Taking notes is a
highly efficient timesaver when working with resources. You may not want
or need to take notes on the content of what you read. However, it is very
important to take notes for your quotatations, paraphrases, and resource list in
your paper!
First, be sure to
write down all quotations that you might use. Be absolutely sure to add
quotation marks (" ") to them in your notes so that you know they
are direct quotes: you must be absolutely sure to use quotation marks around any
such direct quote in your research paper.
You also need to be
sure to
mark your
sentences in which you write down--in your own words--an idea from any source.
This is because even if you are writing an idea in your own words, you are using
someone else's idea. As a result, you must give that author
credit! This is called "paraphrasing."
Both quotation marks
and paraphrasing notes will save you time when you write the paper.
To not
give credit using quotation marks or an author's name for the author's ideas is
known universally in colleges and universities as "plagiarism." You want to
completely avoid it.
In addition, your
notes should always include enough bibliographical information--author's name,
title, source, publisher, date, etc.--that you won't have to look it up again.
One fast way to do this sometimes is to simply make a quick printout or xerox
copy of the title page, the web address, or other such information. Be
sure you have copied enough for your bibliography and paper--including the page
numbers of the article and of the individual quotations or paraphrased ideas--so
that you won't have to go look it up again online or in the library. If
you are working with a web page, sometimes the easiest method is to simply copy
the entire article or page. Doing this also allows for more flexibility:
you can wait until later to decide which words to quote or paraphrase.
---
Return to top.
Searching Documents by
Skimming
"Skimming"
a text means looking at it briefly: learning what is in the text by looking at
its main
parts, but not every word. Why is skimming helpful in research?
There are huge numbers of resources online and in print. Only a few of
them may be useful to you. And within any one long source--whether it is a
book or an article--you don't need to see and understand all of it to find it
useful to support your paper's points.
You should, however, first be sure that your
instructor finds your skimming acceptable. In some courses and
assignments, an instructor very clearly expects you to read all of the reading
assignments. If your research resources must come from those required
readings, then you should not use skimming: you should know the material well.
If this is the case, but you still find yourself short of time, you may need to
read the material faster. If so, you may want to try the techniques
discussed in "Speed Reading" in the chapter in this textbook called "How to Read Texts."
However, if skimming is acceptable to your
instructor for looking at resources that are not required reading, then you
might want to use skimming techniques. When skimming, the most you need is
to understand is what the overall source is about, and what quotations and
paraphrased ideas you can draw from it.
To find out what the overall source is about, simply
read the introductory and concluding paragraphs. or in a book-length work,
skim the introductory and concluding chapters, and carefully read the first and
last one to three paragraphs in both of these introductory and concluding
chapters.
Once you know what the work is about, you have a
sense of the basic point of view of the author. You may then want to skim
the rest of the source for information related to your paper's subject.
When you find a possibly useful bit of information, mark it or copy it so that
you do not have to search for it again. Then continue skimming.
In any one source, you often can work more
efficiently if you complete your skimming of it first, taking notes as you go.
Wait until you are done skimming it before making further use of its
information. There are two reasons for this. One is that as you
skim, your mind is focusing intensely on looking for information, and often you
are better not to break that concentrated focus while you still have it.
You may lose it more quickly if you break it repeatedly. The second reason
is that often, when you are skimming a source, the first or even the third or
fourth mention of information you might use is not the best mention of it: your
best quotation or paraphrase may come from later in the source. For this
reason, it is wise to simply mark the places of possible use, then continue
skimming to the end. Some people find, after finishing with skimming one
source, that a brief rest period or change of pace helps their mental
concentration, so they move on either to immediately adding the quotations and
paraphrases they wnat to use to their paper, or they find something else to do
before skimming a new source.
For more on skimming, see "Skim Reading" in the
chapter in this textbook called "How to Read Texts."
---
Conclusion: Why Worry
about These Issues?
The quick and simple answer to this question is that
they all can save you time and improve your grade. The lessons you learn
and actually take the time to practice now, in college, also will be very useful
to you in succeeding in your chosen profession. Whether you will have to
write formal research papers or not in your profession, you most likely will, in
fact, have to research. There are so many required research activities in
the professional world--from researching a potential staff member to finding out
more about an important product, process, or company--that research is a highly
important skill in the professions. what you learn now, you will remember
in your future profession.
---
Return to top. |